Gov. Rick Scott last week signed into law two business-related bills that caught our attention. One will help make Enterprise Florida more accountable; the second puts into place a tax break that will help Florida businesses compete with neighboring states.
Workforce Florida has made available a $2 million Quick Response Training Challenge Grant for employers in Florida’s logistics and trade industry, according to Chris Hart IV, president and CEO of the statewide work force policy board.
For far too long, Florida has been only one costly storm away from financial catastrophe, with homeowners, businesses, charities, churches and automobile policyholders paying heavy “hurricane tax” assessments from past hurricanes. We also face the risk of crippling new taxes in the future, which would be triggered by both Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.
For far too long, Florida has been only one costly storm away from financial catastrophe, with homeowners, businesses, charities, churches and automobile policyholders paying heavy “hurricane tax” assessments from past hurricanes. We also face the risk of crippling new taxes in the future, which would be triggered by both Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.
For far too long, Florida has been only one costly storm away from financial catastrophe, with homeowners, businesses, charities, churches and automobile policyholders paying heavy “hurricane tax” assessments from past hurricanes. We also face the risk of crippling new taxes in the future, which would be triggered by both Citizens Property Insurance Corp. and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.
The latest jobs report shows Florida’s private sector created nearly 17,000 jobs in April. The jobless rate dropped three-tenths of a percent from March. It has dropped nearly four points since Gov. Rick Scott took office.
“According to a new forecast developed by the Florida Chamber Foundation, the state could see firms adding nearly 200,000 nonagricultural positions over the 2013 year. The employment forecast relies on a combination of factors including housing metrics, manufacturing delivery times, and consumer confidence. During the first three months of 2013, Florida’s non-farm employers have added 55,000 new jobs to the economy—a sharp increase from the 27,400 positions added in the previous quarter.”
It is my pleasure to join a coalition of business leaders, large and small, and Chambers of Commerce from across the state in eradicating human trafficking. We thank Attorney General Pam Bondi for inviting us to be part of the solution. Exploitation of humans, for sex or labor, is intolerable and we look forward working together on an education campaign for leaders, entrepreneurs and businesses to identify the types of unscrupulous practices that lead to this problem.
Florida education has never been better, recently ranking sixth nationally in the prestigious Quality Counts survey. This is because of the “Bold Education Reform’’ experiment that Kathleen Oropeza criticized.
Mark Wilson, president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, said with the state poised to take advantage of the Panama Canal, lifting the manufacturing and equipment sales tax “will help ensure Florida is prepared to take full advantage of these new opportunities — to double Florida-orgin exports ….and create more high-skill, high-wage manufacturing jobs.”
